Future of Dynegy accountant Olis remains uncertain

Dynegy figure in limboFour months later, it's not clear where accountant is going to end up

TOM FOWLER, Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Thursday, February 1, 2007

Photo: DAVID J. PHILLIP, AP

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More than four months after his 24-year prison sentence was cut to six years, former Dynegy accountant Jamie Olis remains in the federal detention center in downtown Houston, a facility typically home to inmates with short sentences or awaiting court appearances. less

More than four months after his 24-year prison sentence was cut to six years, former Dynegy accountant Jamie Olis remains in the federal detention center in downtown Houston, a facility typically home to ... more

Photo: DAVID J. PHILLIP, AP

Future of Dynegy accountant Olis remains uncertain

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More than four months after his 24-year prison sentence was cut to six years, former Dynegy accountant Jamie Olis remains in the federal detention center in downtown Houston, a facility typically home to inmates with short sentences or awaiting court appearances.

It's unusual for inmates to remain in such facilities for so long after their sentencings, said Alan Ellis, a California defense lawyer and author of the Federal Prison Guidebook.

"Sometimes people fall between the cracks in the system, but they shouldn't," Ellis said.

The Marshals Service, which is responsible for transporting federal prisoners, was waiting for the Bureau of Prisons to determine where Olis should be sent, said spokeswoman Marianne Matus.

Prisoner transport services slowed because of the holidays and the recent spate of bad weather, but Olis is in line to be moved in the coming weeks, Matus said.

Neither the U.S. Marshals Service nor the Bureau of Prisons would say where Olis will be moved.

Olis' father, Bill Olis, said the family is in the dark about why he is still in Houston, far from his wife and daughter in San Antonio.

His attorney, David Gerger, has asked U.S. District Judge Sim Lake to move Olis to a low-security prison in Bastrop instead of the medium-security prison in Oakdale, La., where he was held previously.

"We've done what can be done to achieve proper designation and hope the bureau will place him where the judge recommended, which is near his family," Gerger said.

In 2003, Olis, co-worker Helen Sharkey and supervisor Gene Foster were charged with conspiracy and fraud for their roles in Project Alpha, a transaction that helped Dynegy inflate its reported cash flow by as much as $300 million.

Sharkey and Foster pleaded guilty, but Olis fought the charges and was found guilty in November 2003.

Olis could have received as little as six months, but Lake called for a sentence of 24 years, saying what were then mandatory sentencing guidelines gave him no choice.

Olis began serving his sentence in May 2004. Foster was sentenced to 15 months in prison, which he is serving, while Sharkey was sentenced to one month in jail, which she completed in November.

In January 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in another case that sentencing guidelines were not mandatory. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later determined that Lake needed to resentence Olis.

Olis was moved to the Houston facility in late 2005 in anticipation of a January 2006 re-sentencing before Lake.

That was delayed by further arguments and the January-to-May criminal trial of former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling.

Lake resentenced Olis on Sept. 22.

It's not unheard-of for inmates to spend many months at facilities that were supposed to be temporary stops, said Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley.

Beds may not be available at the facility where officials want to send an inmate, for example, or it may take a long time for officials to review the case if their security status has changed.

Inmates sometimes remain at facilities near the courthouse if they are needed for other cases.

Some observers thought prosecutors might try to use testimony from Olis to go after higher-level former executives at Dynegy, but in filings in a related Securities and Exchange Commission civil case prosecutors indicated they no longer needed Olis.

" ... the criminal case has concluded and the United States has no further need to participate in these proceedings," wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Jimmy Sledge in November.